The Only Exception

Twenty Eight

~Lainey~

"I don't wanna." I literally crossed my arms, pouting at Spencer. Getting off this plane right now was the end to our perfect vacation and I really was not ready to come back to everything waiting for us. 3 weeks wasn't long enough. I want to travel the world with him and drink wine and eat food that feed my soul and swim in crystal clear seas. I was made for days under the sun and sand between my toes not rainy cities and paint samples whilst sitting in an office chair, drinking coffee and filing reports. 

"I know Sunshine but we can't stay out there forever." 

"Why not? You own the place. We could just-" Spencer got down onto his knees, pulling the blanket off me and unclipping my belt quietly, letting me speak but making it clear I had to get off the jet sooner or later. "We could just go back and work from there. There has to be Italians wanting interior designers. And- and  you can-" 

"Lanes?" Spencer chuckled, pressing soft kisses  from my knee to the edge of my shorts. "Let's go home Beautiful. We can start planning our next trip in the morning. Maybe not 3 weeks again but a week in a few months." I shake my head and he chuckles again. "Come on drama queen. the car awaits to transport her majesty to her next destination."  

He had to physically pull me from the seat and I wasn't making it easy for him to pull me down the aisle. Flying private seemed a little excessive but it was quicker, and dad always insisted because it was apparently safer. I personally think it was just another way for him to remind me the perks of coming into work with him. The business was booming and in turn, my wage would fall inline with it. I was anxious about starting with him if I'm honest. I was jumping into the deep end and the expectations for me to automatically succeed were going to be set instantly. I was heading in with the only experience being decorating our apartment on a 6 monthly basis just for something to do. This was going to be different. 

I'm still not sure what I wanted from the rest of my life. I know I want this. I want what I have right now with Spence. The freedom to live and breathe without worry. He gives me that. He gives me that freedom. I feel like if I told him I never wanted to work again he'd make it work. If I wanted to set up my own business I haven't a single doubt in my mind that he would get me every single license I'd need and he'd find contractors I could trust and he'd make sure every person he knows hires me just so it would succeed. He's the most supportive, sweetest, most calming man I've ever had the pleasure of meeting and after the past 3 weeks, I feel like I'm standing at the precipice of my life with him and it's not the life I imagined myself living 4 months ago but I am. I've had the sweetest taste of life with Spencer and I'm starting to believe that a future with him wouldn't be like my parents' was and maybe, it would be worth every second. 

I want to wake up to him and argue with him and take spontaneous trips with him. I want sunshine and starry nights and I want more than anything to have children with his smile and his eyes and I want to watch him chase them around and teach them to love life the way he's taught me. I want his gentle hands to be the only ones to touch me ever again. I just want Spencer and nothing else. Ever. 

My feet fell onto the tarmac. Even though it's late July, the air temperature difference between here and when we left Italy is huge and a shiver rolls down my spine. Rain drops fall onto my face and long gone are the nights of counting constellations because there's not a single star in the clouded sky. 

"Something's off." Spencer mutters under his voice, pulling me a little closer behind him. I can feel it too. It's not just the change in temperature and weather. I look around and there's cars dotted across the tarmac but that's not weird. There's always cars about down by the hangar. The issue here is the types of cars and how they're parked up, as if they're waiting for a quick get away rather than a luxurious drive to wherever the owners of the other jets are going to from here. 

"Lainey." I pull Spencer closer, pressing my front into him. 

"I've got you Sunshine. What do I say to you?"

"I'm safe with you." He nods his head once but I don't move. Whatever the hell my mother is doing here isn't good and the closer I am to Spence the better. 

"Let's go." My mother speaks calmly from a few feet away, some man in a suit pulling the door to a limo open beside her. "We're going home." 

"I'm not-" I get all of 1 and a half words out when she raises her hand an inch. 2 gunshots tear through the air and Spencer tenses before falling to his knees and the world stops moving. I try to reach for him but men swarm me and I'm being dragged away with only glimpses of the blood on the ground and Spencer looking for me helplessly. I'm shoved into the back of the car, the door slamming shut behind me, windows blacked out so much I can't see a damn thing. 

"Things would be so much easier Lainey if you just did as you were told. Do you know how many people have died because of your selfishness? Because you couldn't follow instructions? You used to be so good at that but suddenly you stopped and now look." Mom filled a glass with champagne, sitting back in her space and looking at me as if she was disappointed in my behaviour. "Look what you made me do Lainey. You could have come with me after graduation. We could have done this how I wanted to do it. Without mess, you willingly coming back home but no. You've had to force my hand and now Spencer is going to die." There's another gun shot and my body freezes. "Let me correct myself. Spencer is dead. Because of you."